


Remove the Cause, But Not the Symptom

by wirewrappedlily



Series: Bones Saves the Universe [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Star Trek: the Musical, Uhura totally knows the Vulcan nerve pinch, Xenopolycythemia sucks, and Scotty would so serenade the warp core, if not all of engineering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-11
Updated: 2013-11-11
Packaged: 2018-01-01 05:03:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1040658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wirewrappedlily/pseuds/wirewrappedlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn't the first time Jim Kirk had had a strange reaction to medication. </p>
<p>It wasn't even the first time Jim Kirk had had a strange reaction that caused <i>those around him</i> to be the ones acting strangely. </p>
<p>It was, however, the first time Jim Kirk had had a medication that caused anyone who tried to speak to him to burst out in song about their innermost thoughts and feelings. </p>
<p>Really: this one was new. </p>
<p>And terrifying.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Remove the Cause, But Not the Symptom

It wasn't the first time Jim Kirk had had a strange reaction to medication. 

It wasn't even the first time Jim Kirk had had a strange reaction that caused _those around him_ to be the ones acting strangely. 

It was, however, the first time Jim Kirk had had a medication that caused anyone who tried to speak to him to burst out in song about their innermost thoughts and feelings. 

Really: this one was new. 

And terrifying. 

It'd been thirty-six hours since Jim last heard his lover's voice. Not that Leonard McCoy had stopped communicating altogether. If he wrote what he wanted to say, or said it 'through' someone else("inform the captain"; "berate the fool"; "remind the winsome idiot"), Jim's new-found powers wouldn't trigger. But Jim had been confined to quarters since Spock had attempted for the eighth time in twelve hours to speak directly to him, and Uhura actually put the Vulcan nerve pinch on him to stop it from happening, then burst into a rousing chorus of 'You Can't Sing, You Pointy-Eared Fool'. 

This was Jim's life. 

So it had been more than a day since he'd heard the dulcet sounds of Leonard Horatio McCoy so much as muttering curses under his breath. 

He was going nuts, if he was being honest. 

Scotty was serenading the warp core, which was nothing particularly new between the two of them; and Keenser's solitary report to him had devolved into a mambo, which just freaked Jim right the fuck out. Sulu and Chekov had started two different love songs at the same time, about each other, going into a full-blown duet like it was some sort of twenty-first century remix--which, really, had been sweet and surprisingly not that bad, but Jim could've done without knowing about the burning passion in Chekov's loins. Uhura's solo on her thoughts on his second-in-command had gone thankfully unheard when Bones put a pair of sound-cancelling headphones over his head to see if it was the act of him listening that caused it, or just the directed sound vibrations that triggered some sort of chemical response. 

Turned out, it was the vibrations. And Bones wanted to hang himself for hearing what he'd heard if the look on his face was anything to go by. 

Christine Chapel had burst into song about how Jim was a lucky bastard for landing McCoy; Carol Marcus had had her own rendition, directed at Bones for snagging Jim. It was weird. Jim didn't like it. 

Cupcake had a love-affair with knitting that most of Kirk's security team shared, and Kirk cringed at the thought of the damage a knitting needle could do. 

Jim had a particular verse that Yeoman Rand had _rapped_ at him that morning while updating him on the status of the crew stuck in his head as he laid over the couch in his and Bones's quarters, tapping his foot in the air in time with the beat and studying the formulae the PADD in his hands had spit up. The door opened, and Bones came striding in, huffing silently as Jim waved a hand in acknowledgement, trying to finish the sentence if not the paragraph before putting down the PADD. "If you ever get into a rap battle with Janice Rand, you're going to be defeated." He greeted his lover finally, turning blue eyes up to Bones. 

Bones looked pained; moreso than he had the entire time Jim had been laid-up, and Jim had a quick jolt of panic that this would turn out to be a permanent change in communication between his crew and himself. 

"Oh, God, doc, please tell me it's not terminal!" 

Bones snorted, rolling his eyes, but there wasn't any room for mirth in his features. He sank to a seat on the coffee table in front of Jim, his hands wringing. 

"Bones, you remember how after our first time you were quiet and it was scaring me? Well, I've gotten used to the quiet now and still you're managing to scare me." 

Bones looked aggrieved, reaching into a pocket of his uniform and handing Jim a PADD. 

The word 'Xenopolycythemia' popped out at Jim with all the force of a slap to the face, and his hands started shaking. 

" _Cry if you want to, I won't tell you not to: I won't try to cheer you up--I'll just be here if you want me. There's no use in keepin' a stiff upper lip. You can weep, you can sleep--you can loosen your grip. You can frown, you can drown, and go down with the ship. You can cry if you want to. Don't ever apologize for venting your pain, it's somethin', to me, you don't need to explain. I don't need to know why--I don't think it's insane. You can cry if you want to._ " Bones sang in a gorgeous rush, his eyes scared of what Jim would do. 

" _The windows are closed, the neighbours aren't home--if it's better with me, than to do it alone...I'll draw all the curtains and unplug the phone...you can cry if you want to. You can stare at the ceiling and tear at your hair; swallow your feelings, and stagger and swear. You can show things, and throw things, and I wouldn't care. You can cry if you want to. I won't make fun of you, I won't tell anyone: I won't analyse what you do or you should have done. I won't advise you to go and have fun. You can cry if you want to._

" _It's empty and ugly and terribly sad; I can't feel what you feel, but I know it feels bad. I know that it's real and it makes you so mad...you could cry. Cry if you want to, I won't tell you not to; I won't try to cheer you up, I'll just be here if you want me...to be...near...you..._ "

Jim wasn't simply crying, he was sobbing, but it wasn't a surprise. 

He'd gotten more than Spock's death in the mind meld: he'd seen this coming. And he could stop it, if Bones would just give him a little more time. 

The conversation they'd had two years ago surfaced; Jim's claim that if his death had been any slower, he wouldn't have survived through the pain. He hoped to hell McCoy felt like proving him wrong. "Bones, I can fix this." 

Leonard shook his head, looking even more pained, and Jim caught his hands. 

"No, Bones; I saw this. I knew it was coming...I didn't think it'd be so fast...but I knew. I'm prepared...just not as much as I'd hoped to be." Jim told him, reaching up to touch his cheek, "I remember what I said...you feel like fighting for me for just a little while longer?" Leonard flinched, blinking, and Jim hadn't seen such a look of awe in a while. "I know the cure...Actually, I've improved the cure. I just have to do a couple more tests." Jim could read him, and he smiled, "The Fabrini have the cure, Ambassador Spock synthesized it from their old records to save you in the other world. It was painful and nasty, but it saved you. So I've been looking for a way to tweak it...so it won't be painful and nasty. Bones?" 

Jim was used to Bones throwing himself at him, wild-eyed and frantic and kissing like he'd die if he stopped. Jim was more than happy to oblige the kissing. He was ecstatic that Bones was the stubborn bastard he was, and wouldn't give up. 

"I was just reading the latest specs on the formula, Bones, it's so promising." Jim told him in a tumble, letting Leonard take the PADD from him to read it for himself, "One more week, Bones." 

Hazel eyes met teared-up blue, and Jim tried to smile, to make him smile. Bones nodded, setting the PADD aside and bringing Jim into his arms, pressing his face in Jim's hair and breathing him in, eyes closed and heart expanding in his chest with how much he loved him. 

Jim sighed quietly, worrying Leonard's collar between his fingers, "You've got a beautiful voice, by the way. And I liked the song, even if it kind of made me want to hit you, because of course I'd want you near me. I always want you near me. Always have. I don't know what I would've done if we'd been stationed separately, Bones." 

Bones ran his fingers over Jim's lower lip, brushing into a kiss that was all the answer Jim needed of him. 

"You're right, it never would've happened. There's no me without you. I miss your voice, Bones. When will this shit end?" 

Bones shook his head, looking grim as he picked up the PADD and wrote out 'Projected time's two more days.'

"I know it's hard for you 'cause you don't want to sing to me, but will you stick around for a bit?" 

Jim was almost cut off by Leonard's sudden scrawling over the PADD, 'I didn't want to tell you I was getting sick in song. That's why I've been so careful.'

Jim shook his head, taking the PADD from Bones's hands and setting it aside, "You've got a really good voice, Bones. Janice could still kick all our asses in rapping, but you're definitely the singer of us." Bones snorted, and his ears were turning red. "I hope you used to sing to Joanna. Actually, that's a good idea. I'll get her to hook up her plush of you, and Uhura and I can replace you saying goodnight to her with you singing her to sleep. How's that sound for an awesome Uncle Jim gift?" 

Bones's head dropped to the curve of Jim's shoulder like he wanted to be smashing it against a desk, and Jim grinned madly. 

"No, I'm serious! There was this old lullabye that one of my grade school teachers used to sing, it was beautiful..." Jim looked him in the eyes, pleading silently, and Bones rolled his eyes, nodding. Jim beamed, pulling him in for another hug, and Bones laughed, wrapping his arms around him. "She'll love it, Bones, trust me." 

Bones raised one eyebrow, and Jim grinned; of course Bones trusted him. It was hard not to after Jim had so entirely won Joanna's heart. 

"You picked a song, didn't you?" Jim figured, "Something you wanted to express yourself with that wouldn't make you make up lyrics." 

Bones nodded, and Jim laughed. 

"I've heard the song...you've played it for me before. Or while I was around, before. I don't know what it is with you and jazz, but I love it." 

Bones shook his head, kissing Jim's fingers and rubbing them between his own. Jim's lowered blood pressure had evened out under Bones's care, but he would never be as warm as Leonard was. Leaning forward, Jim nuzzled into the side of Bones's neck; his eyelashes brushing over Bones's skin as he closed his eyes. 

"Are you in a lot of pain right now?" 

Bones shook his head, pulling Jim out of his seat and into his body more fully, tucking himself around Jim with all the care in the world. Jim sighed against his chest, his hand migrating to the back of Leonard's head, kneading through his hair in a way that made Leonard melt. Another song popped into his head, and Leonard smiled to himself before taking a breath, " _If I should die this very moment...I wouldn't fear. 'Cause I've never known completeness like being here. Wrapped in the warmth of you; loving every breath of you--still my heart this moment, or it might burst. Could we stay right here 'til the end of time...'til the Earth stops turning? I wanna love you 'til the seas run dry! I found the one I've waited for._ " 

Jim shook in his arms, turning his face against Bones's chest, so Bones could see the tears running down his cheeks--something Bones realized he'd never seen Jim do before; actually cry. " _All this time, I've loved you, and never known your face. All this time I've missed you, and searched this human race. Here is true peace! Here, my heart knows calm: safe in your soul--bathed in your sighs. Wanna stay right here, 'til the end of time, 'til the Earth stops turning,_ " Jim reached up, kissing the corner of his mouth gently. 

" _Gonna_ love you _'til the seas run dry! I've found the one I've waited for! The one...I've waited for...All I've known, all I've done; all I've felt was leading to this. All I've known, all I've done; all I've felt was leading to this! Wanna stay right here, 'til the end of time! 'Til the Earth stops turning! Gonna love you 'til the seas run dry! I've found the one I've waited for. The one...I've waited for..._ " 

Jim kissed him, falling into it with abandon, "I wanna stay right here, 'til the end of time; 'til the Earth stops turning," Jim whispered in his ear, "I'm gonna love you 'til the seas run dry. I've found the one I've waited for. _The one_ I've waited for..."

Bones shivered, bringing Jim's mouth to his and taking his hands. Jim came with him as Bones tugged him into the bedroom, barely letting a kiss end to push their clothes out of the way, before starting another. Jim's hands were strong and sure on Bones's skin, touching over him like he was memorizing the feel of Bones under his palms. 

"You know, singing to me would be a really easy way to get yourself laid." Jim panted out, McCoy's mouth on his jugular until a love bite was blooming. Jim groaned, "You're right, you don't even have to go to the trouble of singing to get me...but it'd still be nice." 

Bones grinned, laughing, and Jim waggled his brows, biting his lip as he pulled Bones back in. Running his nose along the line of Jim's throat, Leonard gripped his slight hips, falling into a seat on the bed as it hit the back of his legs and spreading his legs for Jim to slot between. Jim's fingers trailed up the inside of Leonard's thigh as he bent to kiss him again, catching Leonard's moan on his tongue as they inched backwards so that Leonard was laying over the bed, Jim's weight on his hands, hovering over him. Leonard fought against his tongue at the long stream of encouragement and curses clouding his mind out at Jim's attentions: he didn't want to burst out into song about Jim's tongue or his dick, even for as fully as they deserved the praise. A thought occurred to him before Jim pushed him out of coherency: He'd managed to _chose_ what to sing to Jim, so it wasn't necessarily that they would be forced to divulge everything just trying to tell him good morning; it was that if they didn't know what they wanted to communicate, and how it could be sung to communicate it, they would have no choice but to lay it bare in song. 

But Jim's body had lowered just slightly, his weight still not on Leonard, but the warm lines of his body against Leonard's in the cool air of the room, bringing a shiver of excitement through Leonard's chest that made him forget just about every scrap of thought in his head. 

His heart was beating so hard in his chest that Bones honestly didn't know how Jim could expect him to ever stop fighting for even a chance at this, no matter how much pain it put him through. Jim was electric: so necessary to him that Leonard couldn't see himself being dragged away even if it was the reaper doing the dragging. 

Jim had planned things for him that took Bones's breath away: time with Joanna and a couple's quarters on the Enterprise; safety from Starfleet and a _life_ that Leonard never thought he'd have after his disaster with Jocelyn. He wondered, just briefly, if Jim had planned anything about asking to marry him. He hoped he hadn't, because Leonard would be willing to put it to song once he had brain enough to come up with the lyrics; no plan required.

**Author's Note:**

> The two songs Bones picked are 
> 
> [ Cry (If You Want To) by Holly Cole](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmJ9yRKzfnU)
> 
> and
> 
> [ Gorecki by LAMB](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxNYQwnl34w)


End file.
